Beat Gather For iPhone May Rekindle Konami Magic

Publisher hopes players and their smartphones will make beautiful YUBIFU together.

Believe it or not, Konami once sat uncontested atop the music gaming empire, mostly with its Dance Dance Revolution series and a few games that never left Japan. Then, in a colossal blunder, the company allowed the competition to get a leg-up on its products, and was eventually removed from the throne in favor of Activision (Guitar Hero) and EA/Harmonix (Rock Band). That said, it warms these old heats to see the publisher attempting (perhaps in vain) to advance the interactive music genre yet again with beat gather, a free-to-play effort for iPhone.

The basic gist involves using one's personal iTunes music library to create a game of sorts, full of taps, slides and swipes. The software is capable of generating what Konami refers to as YUBIFU music sheets within seconds, though it also goes on to say users can create their own YUBIFU. If you haven't caught on by now, we just like writing the word YUBIFU.

Not sure if this will improve Konami's standing within the genre, but considering all the songs we have on our iPhones, beat gather sounds intriguing.